From the department of "decade-old games you never thought would get a sequel" comes In- backwards 2 - ane, the sequel to the off-road racer 1nsane. These could also fit in the "worst use of a number in a title" category, although I find it amusing that In2ane looks like "inane" with a two in the middle The game is available on Steam for $25.49.

Logged

"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side." - The Big Bang Theory

Considered reaction: Hmm, this is another game like FlatOut 3 where the original developer wasn't even involved so I'm slightly dubious. The video does look good, though, and it seems to maintain at least some of the elements I liked in the original Insane.

Who am I kidding...boughted! Will try to give impressions later today or tomorrow.

After about an hour with the game my initial impressions are that it is actually pretty good and a great update that stays true to the 1nsane formula (if there are any other fans of that 11-year old game still around).

First off, this isn't an "offroad but on a track" kind of game like Dirt (which is a great game). Here they don't care how you get to a checkpoint and several of the modes actually encourage you to find the fastest path. And there are lots of gameplay modes, some of which I haven't unlocked yet. They have the traditional checkpoint race, the offroad jamboree (random checkpoints, find your own path), a "spotlight" race that is like a moving king of the kill, capture the flag and so on. These type of modes are one of the big things that made 1nsane so unique, so I'm glad to see them stay true to that while adding some new twists.

The driving is fast and loose, with your vehicle sliding all over the place in a fun way and lots of jumps to take. And they are nowhere near as fiddly or easily flipped as the ones in the first 1nsane. They added a constantly refilling nitro system here which I'm not sure if I like since it moves the game a bit more towards arcade-y than the first game, but it does seem to do the job and doesn't distract much.

From what I can see there are 18 different vehicle types to unlock in the career mode, with everything from buggies to rally cars, trophy trucks, Dakar-style support trucks, monster trucks, etc. You start out choosing one of three "team"s which gives you a vehicle (SUV, Truck or buggy) and a permanent boost to either top speed, acceleration or handling. You can unlock the other vehicles regardless of what team you start on. You are also gaining points when winning races to apply upgrades to your vehicles, in one of 5 broad categories like top speed or durability.

The AI doesn't seem overly aggressive, which is nice, but they are starting to put up a good challenge and beat me occasionally.

Visually the game looks pretty good, but not cutting edge. Better than I'd expect for a ninja release like this. It kind of reminds me of that game Fuel that came out a while back. The vehicles don't have the awesome dynamic deformation that lead to some crazy results in the first game, but they do lose doors and hoods and get banged up a bit.

One thing from the old 1nsane that I never expected to be in the new one (but is), is that the maps are actually a big wrapped tile so on those crazy competition types you can go fast in either direction and still make it to the same point.

Anyway, as a big fan of the original I like it. I'm happy somebody else out there recognized the fun to be had with this formula and I will be playing more when I get time.

sounds simply amazing that the team behind this one made a game as much like the first as they did.

one thing i always liked was the way you could preview the later maps/vehicles by hitting Enter during the random demo the game would show you if you let it sit there long enough.

it seems to capture a lot of what I enjoyed about the first one. game types other than the standard checkpoint race on a guided course, and the little details like destruction and environmental hazards.

Played the game for about an hour and it's been a blast, it reminds me of Motostorm. The graphics are nice and there are a ton of options for them. I was able to max all of them and the frame rate has not dipped at all.The loading times for the races are non-existent you pick a race and about 2 seconds later the race is starting, which is really nice. You start out with only one car, but you can tune it after every race if you have enough points. I finally unlocked a truck and it did handle a bit differently. I've only played about 4 modes so far and they've all been fun. There is one where you have to follow a helicopters light on the ground and stay in that light to get points which was cool.

The AI has been a bit easy on the race modes as I usually get a big lead and stay there so hopefully that will change once I get to the harder races. Overall I think it's worth the price and it seems very solid and not buggy, except for the buggy's, at all.

sounds simply amazing that the team behind this one made a game as much like the first as they did.

Yeah, it really is quite impressive that an unrelated Russian team was willing and able to go this similar to the original Insane. Sure, there are small things I could complain about (like the lack of vehicle deformation), but overall this is closer than I could reasonably expect out of an update for an 11 year old niche racing game.

Quote from: shon on January 25, 2012, 05:37:40 AM

The AI has been a bit easy on the race modes as I usually get a big lead and stay there so hopefully that will change once I get to the harder races. Overall I think it's worth the price and it seems very solid and not buggy, except for the buggy's, at all.

Yeah, I won my first bunch of races pretty easily as well, but once I got to the third series I started to have more challenge. By the time I did the 3 Greed races I had to re-run a number of them to get first place. Upgrading definitely helps you to be more competitive (or dominating, as the case may be). I guess I like winning races, though, so I rarely complain about AI that gives me a bit of a push but still lets me win.

I loved 1nsane. I felt it was a great off-road racer that attempted new things never done before, like capture the flag on 4 wheels? I loved that every vehicle felt different. I was addicted to that game, and I loved the free-roam aspect and I was surprised they hadn't followed it up with a sequel. This looks more like Motostorm rather than a true sequel, but I guess what Motorstorm doesn't have is tiled maps, right? Is this available for consoles? I might be interested in eventually picking it up.